I don't want to do this anymore. I can't sleep; I can't eat. Aunt Bellatrix forces me to practice Occlumency and Dark Arts spells every day for hours. The Dark Lord threatened my family because I failed to complete my mission. I'm just waiting for the day he kills me. There's nothing I can do.

There's a disturbance in the courtyard, yelling and clanging. The front door opens, my father demands to know what's going on, and I hear my mother say, "They say they've got Potter."

My heart starts pounding. The Dark Lord is going to come back. If the others are with Potter...he's going to make me kill them.

"Draco, come here!"

I slowly push myself from an armchair and walk over to the crowd. Potter is the first person I see, but he's obviously been hit by Stinging Jinx. His face is huge, pink, and distorted.

"Well, Draco?" Father asks. "Is it? Is it Harry Potter?"

I don't want to look at him. He's not meeting my eyes either. "I can't-I can't be sure."

"But look at him carefully, look! Come closer!" I've never heard him sound so excited. "Draco, if we're the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiven."

But I shrink back as he moves closer to Potter. "There's something there. It could be a scar, stretched tight...Draco, come here, look properly! What do you think?"

I do as I'm told and pretend to look. "I don't know," I say, and walk back toward my mother at the fireplace.

"Well, what about the Mudblood then?" Greyback growls.

No.

"Wait," Mother says sharply. "Yes, she was in Madam Malkin's with Potter! I saw her picture in the Prophet! Look, Draco, isn't it the Granger girl?"

"I...I don't know."

"But then that's the Weasley boy!" Father says. "Arthur Weasley's son!"

The drawing room door opens. "What is this? What's happened, Cissy?"

I hold my breath as Aunt Bellatrix walks over to Hermione and stares at her. "But surely this is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?"

"Yes, yes, it's Granger!" Father yells. "And beside her, we think, Potter! Potter and his friends caught at last!"

She cheers in jubilation and I cringe as she throws back her sleeve. Just before she touches the Mark, she stops, her eyes fixed on something across the room.

Everyone turns as she storms towards Greyback. "Where did you get this sword?" she demands, pulling it from the pile next to him and forcing him to his knees.

He bares his pointed teeth at her. "Release me, woman!"

"Where did you find this sword?" She brandishes it in his face. "Snape sent it to my vault in Gringotts!"

"It was in their tent. Release me, I say!"

She does, but paces, examining the sword and muttering to herself. "We have a very serious problem."

Before anyone can ask, she turns to Greyback. "Take these prisoners to the cellar and make sure they're secure, but do nothing to them...yet."

He turns, but she calls him back. "Wait. All except for the Mudblood."

Greyback's grunt of pleasure turns my stomach as Aunt Bellatrix pulls a short silver knife from her robes and drags Hermione into the middle of the room. When I hear Greyback croon, "Reckon she'll let me have a bit of the girl when she's finished with her?" I think I might vomit.

"Crucio!" Aunt Bellatrix screams, and Hermione screams as well. "Where did you get this sword?"

She apparently doesn't answer fast enough. "Crucio! I'm going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?"

"We found it-we found it-PLEASE!"

"Where? Crucio! Where?"

"In the forest. In the forest." Her voice drops to a whisper.

Aunt Bellatrix kneels down and brandishes the knife. "You're lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth!"

Hermione's screams echo off the walls and cut through my core as Aunt Bellatrix carves into her skin with the knife. I want to look away, but I can't, not without raising suspicion. Instead, I force my mind back to our first year at Hogwarts, to when we first met. I had pitied her-alone, teased, bullied-but I knew my father and friends would kill me if I talked to her. But she was smart...and kind...and pretty... She made me question everything I had been taught about Muggleborns. The hate came easily after she befriended Potter and Weasley, and more easily still after my father spent every single moment between my first and second years berating me and abusing me for having lower marks than a Mudblood, and then for being "too eager" to talk to her at the beginning of my second year. A nagging voice in the back of my head kept telling me to stop, but I drowned it out.

"It isn't the real sword! It's a copy, just a copy!"

Hermione's screams jerks me out of my memories and I can't take my eyes off the blood dripping from the carved letters on her arm. Mudblood.

Aunt Bellatrix steps back to cast another Cruciatus Curse, and Hermione's eyes meet mine, pleading. I swallow hard, trying to send a mental message. I've watched so many people get tortured and killed that I thought I was numb. I thought I could deal with it. I guess not.

I'm sorry.

She holds my gaze as my father screams at me to get the goblin from the cellar. I'm shaking as I make my way down the stairs. Hermione's screaming again, and no amount of mental energy is blocking it out. When we return, I watch Hermione's body go limp at Aunt Bellatrix's feet. All I can do is stare at her until I hear, "And now we will call the Dark Lord!"

I start shaking again as she nudges Hermione's lifeless body with her foot. "And I think we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, take her if you want her."

No!

"Nooooo!" someone screams, bursting into the room.

Weasley. Jets of light fly and I dive behind the sofa for cover.

"STOP OR SHE DIES!"

I peer around the edge of the sofa to see Aunt Bellatrix supporting an unconscious Hermione, her knife at her throat.

"Drop your wands," she whispers. "Drop them, or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is!"

But Weasley and Potter just stand there, rigid, looking back at her.

"I said drop them!" She presses the blade into Hermione's throat, beads of blood appearing immediately.

I straighten up, grasping the sofa to keep from using my wand, as theirs clatter to the floor.

"Good. Draco, pick them up! The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches!"

Before I can move, there's a dreadful grinding noise from above us and the crystal chandelier begins falling. Aunt Bellatrix throws herself out of the way and it crashes on top of Hermione and the goblin. I'm acutely aware of sharp pain on my face and put my hands up immediately, only to be greeted with blood.

Spells fly again, and someone pulls me out of the way. I hear my mother yell, "Dobby! You! You dropped the chandelier!"

"You must not hurt Harry Potter! Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"

Between the blood and the pain, I can barely see, but I hear a loud crack and everyone in the room screaming. Suddenly, everything is quiet and cold penetrates the room. "Where is Harry Potter?"

Nobody speaks.

"Lucius! Where is Harry Potter?"

Still nothing.

"Do not make me ask you again."

"He escaped, my lord." I can barely hear him.

"He WHAT? How did you let this happen?!"

"That bloody House Elf. He came..." His voice trails off.

"Boy!"

I swallow hard. "Yes, my lord?"

"What happened to your face?"

I feel the blood slowly being siphoned off. "I was cut when the chandelier shattered, my lord."

"Can you see?"

I open my eyes slowly, the room coming into focus. "Yes, my lord."

"Good." He turns to my father, using an invisible hand to push him to his knees. "I warned you, Lucius."

"My lord, have mercy."

"Mercy! I will show you mercy!" He raises his wand. "Crucio!"

This time it's my father's screams echoing through the room, but, surprisingly, they don't cause me pain. I just look straight ahead until they stop.

"Let that be a warning," the Dark Lord says. "I will not be so merciful again."

My mother runs to my father once he disappears. I make my way to my room and stare into my mirror; the only deep cut I have is on my right cheekbone. I lie in bed, my knees up to my chest, and close my eyes. There is no point in trying to sleep; the only image I see is Hermione's unconscious body. Did she even survive? Why do I care? When did I even start thinking of her as Hermione, rather than Granger or Mudblood?

"Year 6," that voice in the back of my head says.

Potions class. Slughorn had threatened us early on: if we completely botched three potions, we were going to be permanently removed from the class. I had already botched two; my mind was on the Dark Lord's mission. All my grades were slipping. I barely slept. If I couldn't repair that Vanishing Cabinet...

I was reading too fast. I had started to stir my potion clockwise when the liquid suddenly started moving counterclockwise. I looked at Hermione, who shared my bench, ready to tell her off, then re-read the instructions. Counterclockwise. I added the last ingredient, turning the potion light blue and earning 5 points for Slytherin.

"Why did you help me?" I whispered as we packed up our belongings, my eyes on my books rather than on her.

"If you get kicked out, I have nobody to compete against," she whispered back, her eyes also cast down.

That had been the end of the conversation, but I had caught her concerned expression more than once and wondered if there was more to it. I buried that question way down, but here it is, bubbling up again.

I reach for the Sleeping Draught hidden under my bed. I don't want to think tonight.

The Dark Lord summons me. "You have proven unreliable thus far."

I just hang my head; I know he isn't expecting an answer.

"I will allow you one final chance to redeem yourself. If you fail again, I will kill you, your father, and your mother."

"I will not fail again, my lord," I reply.

"Harry Potter is returning to Hogwarts."

He outlines my mission, and, before I know it, I'm walking with Crabbe, Goyle, and the other Death Eaters from our apparition destination to Hogwarts. Snippets on conversation float up as we trudge through the grass.

"Torture Longbottom just like I did his parents. See how long he lasts!"

"Wouldn't mind sending a Killing Curse McGonagall's way. That old hag was always busting me."

"I wanna see that oaf Hagrid go down. Probably take a few others with 'im."

"Seeing that smirk wiped off Potter's face would beat any reward. Weasley too."

"I'm hopin' to get my teeth into Miss Mudblood. She's gonna be wishin' for death when I'm done with her!"

I shut my brain down as soon as Greyback starts to describe his plans in great detail. I don't know who around me is skilled in Legilimency.

Once we breach the barriers, Crabbe, Goyle, and I head to the Room of Hidden Things. Sure enough, Potter and his friends are heading inside, talking loudly about a "diadem." They're so intent on their mission that they don't hear us walk up behind them.

"Hold it, Potter," I say.

He skids to a halt and turns around. "Shouldn't you be with Voldemort?"

"We're gonna be rewarded," Crabbe says. "We 'ung back, Potter. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you to 'im."

"How did you get in here?"

"I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things last year," I reply, trying to keep my voice level. "I know how to get in."

"Harry? Are you talking to someone?"

Weasley. Crabbe whips around and points his wand at a fifty foot mountain of old furniture, broken trunks, old books, and other junk. "Descendo!"

The tower starts teetering, the top layer starting to fall.

"Finite!" Potter yells as I grab Crabbe's arm to stop him from repeating the spell. "No! If you wreck the room, you might bury this diadem thing!"

He forcefully tugs himself free. "It's Potter the Dark Lord wants; who cares about a die-dum?"

I cannot believe how stupid my friends are. "Potter came in here to get it, so that must mean-"

Crabbe cuts me off ferociously. "'Must mean'? Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You an' your dad are finished."

It takes everything in my power not to curse him as he spins around and aims a Cruciatus Curse at Potter.

"Stop!" I yell, grabbing his arm again. "The Dark Lord wants him alive!"

He throws off my arm again. "I'm not killing him, am I? But if I can, I will. The Dark Lord wants him dead anyway; what's the dif-"

He's cut off by a jet of scarlet light flying past his ear. "It's that Mudblood!" he yells. "Avada Kedavra!"

"No!" Potter and I yell together as Hermione dives aside. Potter shoots a spell at Crabbe, which misses.

"Don't kill him!" I yell as both he and Goyle take aim.

"Avada Kedavra!" Crabbe yells again, and Potter ducks. The spell hits Goyle straight in the chest and he crumples to the floor.

"No!" I yell again, running over to Goyle. "Crabbe, you idiot!"

"Harry!" Hermione screams.

A roaring, billowing noise warns me of what's coming before I even turn around. "Run!" I yell.

All of us take off. I look back once I get separated from the others, but I can see is fire. It's mutating into a gigantic pack of fiery beasts: serpents, chimaeras, and dragons. I climb a pile of debris as quickly as I can, but there's no escape. Dread climbs up my spine.

I'm going to die.

"Draco!"

I turn around, trying to keep my balance as the pile teeters below me. "Hermione!"

She reaches out her hand and helps me climb onto Potter's broom, then keeps her wand out, clearing a path through the flames until we fly through the door. We crash into the opposite wall and collapse into a heap, coughing and panting. Potter catches his breath first and takes off without a word. Weasley glares at me and forcefully pulls Hermione up; she had landed on top of me. He crashes his lips into hers, staring daggers at me, and I head down the opposite set of stairs, narrowing missing being pelted by Peeves with Snargaluff pods. Everyone's battling below me, and the Death Eaters are actually taking considerable damage.

Yaxley stops me before I reach the landing. "Draco Malfoy. The Dark Lord is most displeased with you."

"Let me by," I reply.

"I don't think so. I'm sick of you, boy. You're a coward. You're going to turn on us as soon as you can, just like your father."

He gets to his wand before I do; I'm still fumbling in my pocket. I know what spell is coming.

"Stupefy!" I hear a female voice say.

Yaxley crumples, hitting his head hard on the steps. I look around for my savior-I know that voice-and see bushy hair disappearing into the crowd. Of course.

Suddenly, the Dark Lord's voice booms through the castle. "Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters, will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

Anguished cries and bitter laughter erupt from the crowd as everyone rushes to the main doors. McGonagall screams first; I've never heard such a sound. The crowd of survivors joins in, shouting abuse at the Death Eaters, but Hermione's cry of despair stands out over the others.

"Silence!" the Dark Lord yells, a bang and flash of bright light speeding towards the castle. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

I quietly make my way to the back of the crowd of survivors. I don't want them to see me, and I definitely don't want the Death Eaters to see me. I want them dead. Potter's body is lifeless, and I can see Aunt Bellatrix's smirk from across the field.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," the Dark Lord says, "killed while trying to save himself-" He breaks off, and there's suddenly another bang and flash of light, followed by a grunt of pain. Someone's lying on the ground a few feet in front of him.

"And who is this?" the Dark Lord demands. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

Aunt Bellatrix lets out a delighted laugh, and I immediately know who it is. Longbottom. I don't want to watch him get destroyed, so I scan the crowd. My father and mother stand to the far side of the Death Eaters, and I can see my mother scanning the crowd as well. I shrink back further. Hermione's in the front of the crowd of the survivors between two of the Weasleys. McGonagall is behind her, whispering something to Flitwick.

Suddenly, everyone starts screaming and I see Longbottom aflame. Then chaos. A giant staggers around the side of the castle yelling, "Hagger!" and the Dark Lord's giants rush at him, making the earth quake. Hooves, twangs of bows, and great flapping sounds of threstrals add to the clamor. Spells are flying as everyone is forced back into the castle, people falling left and right. Two of the Weasleys take down Yaxley a few feet in front of me, and Dolohov falls at Flitwick's hands. I force my way into the Great Hall and immediately see Aunt Bellatrix dueling Hermione and Longbottom. I send a Stunning Spell at Rookwood, who had aimed his wand at Longbottom's back, then another at Thicknesse when he aims at Hermione.

"How perfect!" Aunt Bellatrix laughs, a maniacal sound. "I get to kill a Mudblood and a blood traitor at the same time!"

I raise my wand, but two spells hit her simultaneously, right in the chest. People nearby scream as she falls, and three Death Eaters descend upon them immediately. The Dark Lord is screaming, raising his wand, then someone yells, "Protego!"

Potter appears out of nowhere and everyone starts cheering, then abruptly stop when he and the Dark Lord start circling each other. I scan the crowd, but Hermione is nowhere to be seen. Then I notice Greyback hurrying out of the Great Hall and immediately take off running.

"You're not escaping me this time, Miss Mudblood," I hear Greyback growl as I turn the corner.

Hermione is backed into a corner, her wand lying on the floor out of arm's reach. Blood is gushing from her head, and my arm is shaking as I aim a Stunning Spell at Greyback. It misses by a mile and he turns, baring his pointed teeth at me. "I know you were not aiming at me."

I slowly edge toward Hermione, my eyes on Greyback. His wand is hanging loosely at his side, so I have a split second advantage.

His eyes travel between us. "Oh, I get it," he says, a laugh that sounds far too much like Aunt Bellatrix's rumbling in his throat. "You want a piece of her as well. That's fine; I'll share. I'll even let you go first."

Bile rises in my throat as I aim my wand and bring Greyback to his knees. "I'm not letting you harm anyone else."

"Gotten fond of her, have you? Going to turn traitor like your waste of a father? Why don't you just kill me now?"

"Draco," Hermione says softly, but I ignore her, keeping my body between them.

"Kill me, coward. Kill me now!"

Before I can react, a house elf jumps on Greyback's back, letting out a war cry as it hacks at him with a cleaver. Blood splatters everywhere, and his body crumples.

"Kreacher?" Hermione says incredulously as I wipe blood off my face.

"No harm shall come to my Master's friends!"

"Thank you."

Cheers erupt in the Great Hall, and the house elf runs towards them. I grab Hermione's wand and pull her out of sight as Death Eaters flood the hallway. I hear my mother calling my name, but I flatten myself against the wall.

"Come along, Narcissa," I hear my father say. "If he's alive, he'll come home later."

I wait until the hallway is clear before I turn to look at Hermione. She's leaning heavily on the wall, blood still gushing. "You saved my life."

I hold my arm out. "You saved mine. Let me help you."

She wraps her arm around my waist, so I do the same, supporting her as we slowly walk toward the Great Hall. We're barely into the room when Weasley, Potter, and Longbottom point their wands in my face. "Get away from her!" Weasley yells. "Now!"

"No!" Hermione replies. "He saved my life!"

They look like they've been Stunned. "Really?" Potter asks.

I nod, but let Hermione speak. "We saved each other."

Longbottom goes to her other side and wraps his arm around her as well, so I leave her with him and in Madam Pomfrey's capable hands. I'm going to get killed if I don't get out of here quickly. I feel eyes on me and turn once, meeting Hermione's gaze. She mouths, "Thank you," and I nod, quickly looking around the room. Once my father gets his hands on me, I'll probably never see this place again.