This wasn't supposed to be happening. The attack on The Burrow wasn't supposed to happen for another two weeks. We weren't prepared for this. This was just madness.

"Draco! Are you just going to stand there?"

Potter yelling at me snapped me out of my shocked state. I jumped back into action. Death Eaters were everywhere and more were arriving as the minutes passed by. We all knew what they were for. They were here to kill me for switching sides and they were here to kill Potter for killing Voldemort.

Spells were flying everywhere left and right as everyone fought. I found myself facing a hooded figure shouting various spells. This one put up a good fight and I actually found myself getting tired. I kept shouting, "Would you just bloody die already?"

"Expelliarmus!"

Without even looking at who cast the spell, I knew who it was. Hearing that person's voice sent me on an emotional roller coaster. I pushed those feelings aside as I punched the Death Eater straight in the face. He fell to the floor and I pointed my wand at him as I shouted the killing curse.

"Hermione are you crazy?" I shouted at her, "Why the hell are you here? You could get hurt!"

"Oh Draco, did you honestly think I wasn't going to fight? I'm Hermione-bloody-Granger, I can handle a couple of pathetic Death Eaters!"

I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her away from the fighting. She kept beating at my arm to let her go, but I refused. I didn't care if she wanted to fight. I knew that this battle wasn't going to end well and I didn't want her to be part of it. I wouldn't be able to lose her, Merlin forbid something happened.

"You are not my Father, Draco! You can't pull me away from this! My friends are out there and I should be with them!"

Once we were hidden behind a bush I turned to face her. She looked livid, but beautiful. Her eyes were glowing with anger and her hair was falling out of the bun she had made earlier in the evening. I pulled her closer to me so I could hug her. I said, "Hermione, please. I lost my Mum in the last fight. I can't lose you in this one. Please do this for me. Go somewhere far from here. I don't care where. Just hide."

I looked straight into her eyes and watched as they softened. She saw that I was scared. She understood how I felt. She placed her hands on my cheeks and gently kissed my lips. When she pulled away, I felt a tear slide down my cheek.

"Draco I can't hide from this fight," She whispered.

"Yes you can!" I shouted, "Granger just put that stupid Gryffindor courage away! Just this once, can't you do that for me? I can't lose you!"

She began to cry. She shook her head, "Draco you won't lose me. I'm not going to die. Now please, we have to get back to help the others. You know we weren't prepared for this and we need to help each other."

"I can't change your mind, can I?" I cried.

Hermione said no. She kissed me again and all I could taste was the saltiness of our tears mixed together. When she pulled away, I pulled her back in for another kiss. I didn't want to let her go. I was tempted to apparate on the spot to a safe location, but I knew she would never forgive me. When we stopped kissing I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and said, "Do not leave my sight."

She nodded and after, ran off. I was right behind her, and it seemed like I was shouting spells instantly. More reinforcements had arrived, but we were still outnumbered. Bodies lay on the floor lifeless everywhere I looked. It was like a repeat of the Battle at Hogwarts, and it was sickening.

As I fought various Death Eaters, I kept an eye on Hermione. She was doing well.

"Flipendo!"

The Death Eater I had been fighting took advantage of my moment of distraction and I was sent flying backwards. I was sent flying into the side of The Burrow and I felt my back crack as soon as it hit the wall. I fell to the floor in excruciating pain. I couldn't even see straight. As if sending me flying into a wall wasn't enough, my attacker came up to me to kick me in the side a few times. I felt and heard something crack and knew instantly that a rib had been broken.

"This what you deserve, you filthy blood traitor!" The Death Eater spat at me. I received a few more kicks before She-Weasel came to my rescue and then the Death Eater fell unconscious to the floor.

"Malfoy, are you alright?" She asked me.

She tried to help me, but I just pushed her hands away. Something was off. I looked around quickly, looking for Hermione, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Weasley, where's Hermione?"

"She was just-" The youngest redhead turned around and searched for Hermione, but she couldn't find her. "She was just fighting a Death Eater!"

I felt my heart drop all the way down to my stomach. Fear filled my eyes and my brain went into overdrive. I grabbed my wand and struggled to get up.

"Malfoy, you're hurt. I'll go look for Hermione. You need to get help."

"Hell no!" I screamed. I stood up and bit my tongue to stop myself from screaming out in pain. I definitely had a broken rib. I could feel it. I didn't care though. I needed to find Hermione.

"Malfoy I'm serious!" She kept screaming at me.

"No! Hermione is my bloody girlfriend and I was supposed to look out for her, so I am going to find her!" I put my wand out in front of me and shouted, "Point me!" My wand directed itself to the right, towards the reeds. I moved as fast as I could. I kept shouting at my wand to point me in the direction of Hermione. I had no idea where I was going. I just needed to find her. As I was running around, I stepped on something. I looked down to see what it was and ended up crying more. It was Hermione's wand.

"Hermione!" I started to scream, "Hermione! Where are you?"

I looked around for another ten minutes with no luck. I could barely breathe. My side where I had the broken rib was throbbing with pain and my face was soaked with tears. What if she was dead? What if I would never be able to find her?

"Draco."

I turned around. There she was. Hermione was alive. She was standing a few feet away from me. I continued to cry, but this time it was out of happiness. I started to walk towards her when I noticed the fear in her face. She was afraid.

"Hermione, what's wrong?"

"Draco don't come any closer." She said. Her voice was void of all bravery and confidence. I looked closer and saw that she was shaking. Was she afraid of me?

"Hermione I'm not going to hurt you," I said, "You know me, Mione."

She began to cry. As she cried, she took a couple of more steps back. Her lips were moving, but she wasn't speaking. I realized what she was doing. She was telling me to run. I shook my head in response and said, "I'm not leaving you."

"Then we'll just have to kill you as well."

I felt my wrists being pulled behind my back and a tight hand wrap around my neck. Hermione screamed as she watched me struggle against whoever was holding me.

"You said you wouldn't hurt him!" Hermione screamed.

"We lied."

It was then that I realized it was my Father who had scared Hermione. He came strolling out of the reeds behind her with a horrible smirk etched onto his face. I wanted to kill him as soon as I heard him, but whoever was holding me had a strong grip.

He stood between Hermione and I, laughing.

"Father, let Hermione go. I know that I'm the one who you want to kill so get it over with." I spat at him.

"Oh Draco, you foolish boy. You're not the one I want to kill tonight," He walked over to me and patted me on the face, "My plans for tonight are to kill your precious girlfriend while you watch."

"You kill her and I swear that I will kill you," I glared at him.

He laughed in my face, "I would like to see you try."

I looked at Hermione. She was crying. Seeing her cry hurt much more than any physical wound I had at the moment. She was afraid of what was going to happen.

My Father turned his back on me and slowly started to walk back to Hermione. As soon as he turned, I lifted my knee and slammed my foot down on the foot of the Death Eater who was holding me. He screamed in pain and let go of me instantly. My Father turned back in an instant at the scream.

"Hermione, run!" I screamed at her as I threw her wand over to her. Once she caught it, she began to run and I followed after her. We both ran as fast our legs could carry us and for me, it wasn't fast at all.

I should've known, though, that we stood no chance against my Father.

I was stunned and fell once more, screaming in pain.

"Draco!" I heard Hermione scream. "Dra-"

"Sectumsempra!"

And then it was silent.

"Hermione?" I cried out, "Hermione, are you alright?"

I received no answer, but I heard the smallest whimper. I couldn't get up but I managed to crawl over to where the whimpers were coming from. It was Hermione. My Hermione. She had been hit. I began to cry even more. "Oh, Merlin," I sobbed.

I managed to sit up and pull Hermione's head into my lap gently. She looked up at me in fear.

"Draco, it hurts. Make it stop," She sobbed.

I sobbed with her as I tried to stop the bleeding. I couldn't though. I didn't even know the bloody counter-curse. She was dying and I couldn't do anything about.

"I can get help, Mione. I can get you help. You just need to hang in there for me for a little longer," I cried, "Please Hermione. Just hang on."

I took her in my arms and stood up. Pain coursed through my entire body and fell back to the ground. I screamed in frustration and used the Patronus charm to get a message to the others. I said, "Hermione is hurt. Need help. Follow my Patronus back."

"Draco, make the pain go away." Hermione cried.

I looked down at the beautiful angel lying in my arms. I couldn't say anything to her. I bent down to kiss her. Her face was cold, very cold, and that scared me.

"Hermione you can't leave me. You said before that I wouldn't lose you. Just hang in a little longer for me, please. I love you. I can't see you go."

She lifted a hand up to my face and I took it in mine. I kissed it and held it, trying to restore some warmth. I pulled her closer to me, praying that she would be okay.

"This is all of my fault. I should have killed him when I had the chance. I'm so sorry Hermione. I'll fix this. Help is on the way." I cried out to her.

"Draco," She whimpered, "This, this isn't your fault."

I could tell that she was having trouble speaking and I placed a finger on her mouth, but she pulled it away.

"You didn't know that this would happen. Don't, don't blame yourself. Please." She looked up at me and said through her tears, "I love you."

I wiped away her tears and kissed her, "I love you too, Hermione."

I watched as she closed her eyes and when she did that, I knew it was over. She was gone. I had lost her. I called her name over and over again, with some hope that she would wake up and that she was just sleeping. I kissed her over and over again. I did everything that I could, but nothing was working.

Help had come too late. Kingsley Shacklebot showed up with Arthur Weasley, and Potter. I wouldn't have realized that they were there if Kingsley hadn't touched my shoulder. The last thing I saw was Potter falling to his knees, staring at Hermione's body with misery filling his eyes. After that, everything went black.

Two weeks later

With my hood pulled over my face, no one in Knockturn Alley was able to recognize me. I made my way to Bourgin and Burkes, where I knew the Vanishing Cabinet still stood. Resources had told me that the Vanishing Cabinet was used time from time, but by who, they did not know. I had a very good idea of who was using it, though, which is why I was in Knockturn Alley. I stepped foot into the once familiar shop and stood in the entrance for a bit.

"Good evening, sir. Can I assist you in any way?" Mr. Burke asked.

I did not look up at the old man, nor did I answer him. I lifted my wand slowly and muttered, "Petrificus Totalus." Once he fell motionless, I walked over his body over to where the Vanishing Cabinet was. I ran my hand along the front of the familiar magical object and almost threw up at the memory of how I used it last time.

I pulled it open and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. I had no idea how being transported in this cabinet would feel, so I shut my eyes tight. Once I heard the sounds of people talking, I knew I was in the other cabinet. I thought about jumping out and killing people left and right, but I figured that that plan wouldn't go over too well. I slowly pushed the cabinet door open and stepped out, staying in the shadows. I was at the end of a hallway and I could hear voices coming from the other end and around the corner. There was laughter and shouting. I slowly walked towards the voices and found two men leaning against the wall. Both were drunk, very drunk. I took out both of them and then continued the search for the man I was here to kill.

It took a while. He was nowhere to be found. I had to have gone through half of the building but I had not found him. I was growing angry and impatient, and I was about to leave, until I saw an open door at the end of another dark hallway. I walked down the hallway slowly and peeked into the room.

There he was, looking into the burning fire of the fireplace. I stepped into the room and said, "Hello Father."

He didn't turn to face me like the coward he was. He said, "I was wondering when you would show up to fight me. I was beginning to think that you had given up."

"Well I had to clear the building, Father. We wouldn't want you to escape now, would we?"

"You've always been a foolish boy, Draco. Turning sides was a very bad choice. Going after that pathetic mudblood was even worse."

"Do not call her Hermione that." I growled.

"What does it matter what I call her? She's dead. Don't you remember? I killed her!" He laughed.

"Crucio!" I shouted.

I watched as he fell to the ground and squirmed around in pain. I felt no guilt. I felt no remorse. I felt nothing.

I walked over to his body and leaned down to him. I could tell that he was already weak, giving me the upper hand. I placed my hand on the dagger that I had hidden in my robes and said to him, "Now you get to suffer just like Hermione had to." He screamed in pain as I dug the dagger deep into his side. I pulled the dagger out and stabbed him once more, making sure the cuts were deep. He wouldn't last long and that gave me joy. I left him to bleed on the floor, just like he had left Hermione to bleed in my arms.

He looked up at me and said, "What, what kind of son are you?"

I looked down at him with disdain, "Certainly not a son of yours."

Another Two Weeks Later

"I hereby sentence Draco Malfoy to twenty five years in Azkaban."

Those words echoed in my head. I was going to be stuck in prison for twenty five years for avenging Hermione. I didn't regret what I had done. I didn't regret it at all, but the love of my life was still dead. Nothing could change that.

I hated myself. I let her die. I was too weak to get her help. I was too weak to keep her alive. I kept hearing her in my head, telling me that I had done nothing, but her telling me that didn't help me. I missed her. I missed her smile and her laugh. I missed her beautiful face. I missed Hermione Jean Granger, the first girl I was ever able to fall in love with.