Chapter 5: The Way Things End

Hermione leads Harry and Ron to the Room of Requirement, knowing the time has finally come to destroy the diadem. The previous year, before she left with them on their quest to hunt down the other horcruxes, she found the ancient accessory and stashed it where it could be easily retrieved amongst the piles of knick-knacks and junk within.

As they run through the corridors she allows her mind to dwell on Draco for the first time in weeks. After escaping the manor, she had steadfastly kept her mind away from Malfoy and anything else pertaining to her old life, focusing instead on finishing what they'd started and ending the war. Now that the final confrontation is so close, she lets her thoughts stray and wonders where he is.

She doesn't have to wonder long when, as she and her friends are racing back out of the room, diadem in hand, their path is blocked by none other than her lover in question and his two thick cohorts.

He looks nervous, agitated. For once, he does not seem in charge of his crew of three. Instead Crabbe steps just slightly forward.

"Well well, what have we here?"

"Looks like we found Potter," comes Goyle's unnecessary reply.

There is a short banter, posturing and strutting between Harry and Crabbe. Hermione finds Draco's eyes and all sound seems to stop. He is looking at her with something like shock and surprise and, maybe she imagines it, a certain amount of longing. She isn't sure what to do with that so she simply says, "Draco", softly. If the rest of either party notice, it doesn't deter them from the eventual outcome. There is a scuffle and a chase and then fucking Crabbe releases fiendfyre on the Room.

Ron thrusts a couple of old brooms at Harry and at her and they take themselves just below the high ceiling, trying to outrun the demon fire.

She's searching the sea of garbage when she hears Harry shout, "We can't just leave them." She looks down and only sees two silhouettes set against the backdrop of smoke and flames and for a moment her heart stops and she can't breathe. Then she realizes one of the shapes is Draco. Her Draco.

"If we die for them, Harry, I'll kill you!" Ron is shouting at their best friend but he turns his broom just the same. In that moment she is the girl of this life and she remembers why she nearly loved Ronald Weasley.

Harry reaches Draco first and swings him astride his broom. Ron makes it to Goyle and hoists up the larger boy with impressive strength and then they are streaking toward the door.

They fall hard onto the stone and Hermione hears the clink of Ravenclaw's diadem drop beside them.

"The fire, Harry! Throw it in the fire!"

He looks at her in question then realization lights his face. He picks up the horcrux and pitches it hard toward the inferno. It is consumed and a shriek echoes from the room and through the corridors, the face of Voldemort appearing in tongues of flame and then vanishing as the Room doors slam shut.

"Crabbe?" Draco is sobbing and Ron sneers at him in distaste.

"Well he's bloody dead, isn't he? Stupid tosser nearly killed us all."

"Ron!" Hermione glares at him, previous affection for him waning as he taunts her lover and then she is there, her arms around Draco's shoulders and he is wracked with sobs.

"Draco? It's alright. You're safe. Look at me."

He looks up and searches her eyes as she cups his cheek and repeats earnestly, "It's alright. Everything will be alright."

"Oi! What the fuck is this?" Ron is pulling at her to make her stand but she clings to Draco and holds his gaze. He is looking at her in fear tinted confusion but he clings back just as tightly.

Then she remembers, they aren't done yet. "I have to go. I have to help Harry finish this. But after, find me. I'll tell you everything. Show you, if you want." She presses her forehead against his and says softly so the others can't hear, "I still love you. I always will."

When she tears herself from his arms, she knows she doesn't imagine that he is reluctant to let go.

XXXXXXXX

Neville was always meant to be a hero. His role here, relegated to sidekick, changes that day at the battle. He could have been the chosen one. Was, once, in another world.

They couldn't have done it without him. The snake's head leaves its body with a sickening slice of flesh. Hermione can tell Voldemort knows he's in trouble. Does he know they destroyed the rest? She is unclear on that part of horcrux lore. Does he still believe himself immortal? Or can he feel all those pieces of his soul irrevocably lost.

In the end, what he believes is irrelevant. In the end, he falls to a school boy using a first year spell.

Harry and Ron cling to her for a short time, all so full of relief and hope it's like the world disappears for just one beautiful moment. As they release each other, all wide grins and heavy breath, Hermione says she has to go. She has to find Draco. Harry gives her a knowing nod and Ron frowns in confusion.

"I'll fill him in. Go on then."

She gives Harry a grateful nod then one last embrace, one arm around each of her friends. "I love you both. I'll find you soon."

Tearing herself away, Hermione is searching frantically throughout the castle.

She finds Snape in the Great Hall as he looks over the body of Remus Lupin with obvious regret and asks if he's seen Draco. He eyes her a moment before telling her that no, he has not. But maybe, after she finds him, when things have settled from the chaos, they could have a conversation. Maybe she would like to capture a semblance of some of what she's lost. She never had lived up to her full potential in potions after all, he comments.

Minerva, overhearing, gives him a wary glance. Hermione says she would like that very much.

Continuing her search to the grounds, she stumbles upon a clearing near the forest where she remembers she turned the sky dark and watched Draco's blood seeping into the earth. She should have realized at the time, what she was risking. It was Blood Magic she was playing with after all. And she used his blood to pay for her selfishness.

Losing him now, might simply be magic's price. Blood magic in particular, demands steep payment for its use.

She'd seen him, at the end, huddled with his family and backing away from the battle. She can't believe they just left. Doesn't he want answers? She assumes Lucius shared at least some of what he had seen. At the least, so that he might question Draco on the truth of it. Doesn't he want to know why a muggleborn girl would give everything for him?

Perhaps it was foolish to think he would.

Collapsing in a heap on the earth, she is crying ugly tears, her breath coming in wet pants, choking her and making her gasp out loud sobs. She doesn't hear his shoes crunching the dry grass, plodding on the hard earth.

"You said you'd tell me."

Hermione jumps when he speaks and he flops down beside her in the grass. "Draco? I thought…I thought you'd gone."

"How could I…" He gazes out over the field before he continues. "My father showed me. He let me see… all of it. Everything you showed him. You're clever, Granger, but not clever enough to plant that many false memories. Not clever enough to fool my father so completely."

She scoffs with just a dash of mirth. "I am actually. I'm that clever. But no, I didn't trick him. What you saw… I lived that whole life. I shared that life with you until you were taken from me." She gestures around herself. "Here, in fact. The first war, this is where I lost you."

He wrinkles his nose in distaste. "What a macabre place to come have a little cry then."

She laughs, more free this time and reaches up to swipe a strand of hair out of his eyes. "There's so much more. I only showed him a little. I could show you more."

"I don't want to see it."

She drops her hand and squints her eyes closed, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. She knew better. She knew he couldn't be her Draco. Everything she's done just to end up at the end of another war, sitting cold and lonely in a bloodied field, her lover absent from her future. "I understand," she says and she moves to stand.

He reaches for her hand to pull her back down. "I just think that, I'm not him. I can never be him."

Why is he still talking? Doesn't he think this hurts enough?

"I know that, Draco. I'm sorry. I don't expect-"

"I mean," he continues as though she hadn't spoke, "what I saw, what you showed us…"

He grimaces in thought, trying to find the words, how to say whatever it is will come next. She waits, just knowing he's about to shatter her heart.

He continues, hesitant but sure. "It was different there. I deserved you." Her head snaps back and she studies him, holding her breath. "I was good to you and Merlin you were… you're so beautiful." She lets her arm go slack, no longer trying to get away.

"I don't want you to show me that life, the one we can't have anymore. Maybe though, I mean if you… maybe we could try for one here? I know I've not earned it and I don't know you like I should but seeing him… me…we were really good together, weren't we? Maybe we can be that here. Someday."

She nods but doesn't dare move, afraid she might spook him like wild game and he'll take back everything he's just said.

"I can't tell you I love you yet. I'm not where you are. But I want it. I'm a selfish man, Hermione. Maybe I wasn't when you knew me-"

"Oh you were," she interrupts with a shy giggle.

He smiles a little in return. "I'm selfish enough to want what you offer. I'd be a fool not to try. You're possibly the most powerful witch alive and you risked everything for… for me. I'm not even worth that but Gods I wish I was."

Hermione takes his face in her hands and promises, "you are," before pressing her lips to his. He needs very little encouragement to accept her affection and soon he has her on her back in the soft grass, the blades dancing against her thighs and his tongue tasting hers.

"I love you," she whispers against his skin.

"I will love you," he offers back and she knows he's making a promise he can keep.