Book 1: Of Thorns & Roses

38: Until the Very End

A/N: This being the LAST chapter of book 1, comment your thoughts throughout the chapter! I want to know what you all think (: I'M SO EXCITED

Fire rushed through my veins as the wind ran its icy fingers through my hair. I sprinted closer to the now alight hut where the Keeper of Keys relished with his wholeheartedly righteous self.

Flames licked the sky as plumes of smoke suffocated the air with its delicate fingers, which reached towards the Heavens.

I muttered the same thing over and over in my head as I slowly approached the congregation of Death Eaters.

Turning over the words that my mother and Dumbledore had said to me, I reflected on the dark world that had risen from the ashes of chaos.

The men and women before me helped lead the clouded darkness through the twisting trees of the forest and into the ancient corridors of Hogwarts. Their sinister actions would forever be imprinted in history.

As for Draco, the evilness shrouding the small sphere of wizards, hadn't pierced his heart, for I wouldn't let it. Neither would he.

I slowly prowled out of the treeline, wand at the ready.

His voice slithered into the stiff air and meandered around the area, tainting the forest with his menacing, and inevitable, actions.

"How nice of you to join us, my dear."

I suppressed the urge to vomit as he slowly turned to face me.

The moonlight was barely present through the clouds that mingled with the stars above, but his arrogant leer was detectable.

Dispelling the fear I felt in my body I said, "Apparently your nose declined the invite."

His jagged, yellowing teeth shone in the fiery light as his rumbling chuckle served as his response. "You are just like your mother," he murmured.

My body locked up, and I squared my shoulders, "You won't win this war." The words hung in the air with profound uncertainty that it silently shook the ground beneath our mortal feet.

His eyes danced with a silent secret. "The validity of that response is yet to be determined, my dear, but nevertheless, I have high hopes."

My gaze wandered to Draco. His expressionless features were for my sake. Our sake. To hide whatever had stayed a secret from Voldemort and the others.

Don't taunt him, said Draco, his voice ringing through my head in painful delight.

I tilted my head, a smirk playing on my lips. Like I said, may I fight like hell and go down swinging.

The truth lurking behind my words startled me.

Before me stood the boy that would keep me grounded to this world in untamable love. It couldn't be suppressed as every touch and whisper of a promise rang throughout Heaven in Hell. This world and the next. Today and forevermore.

That spark of light and hope lived within us because love was a beacon for goodness.

The terror of losing him coursed through me like salt bleeding into an open wound.

Merlin above, save us all.

"I know the secrets that you hold guarded in your mind," sneered Voldemort. "I know about the rare love that bonds you and Draco together like one single, burning flame."

My words were barely a whisper, "You know nothing." Untameable anger boiled deep within me, "You know nothing about my mother. About me. About the rectitude that beats within the walls of Hogwarts. You can't beat that."

Chuckles from Voldemort and his fellow Death Eaters sounded throughout the area as the flames that had possessed Hagrid's Hut dwindled with the ash that stood in its place.

It felt as if the trees and the creatures that slinked through the forest held their breath in the alluring mystery of what was to come next.

"Let me ask you one thing, my dear. Why do you think you have become so weak and hollow in your form?"

Sheer ice froze my body.

He knew he had me cornered with that single question because I did not have an answer. My elongated silence was enough for him to proceed, "Your body, your life form, calls to the darkside. You belong with me just like your mother did."

"I smell bullshit," were my own condescending words.

Bellatrix then chirped, "I think I like the fire that burns within her, Dark Lord. She's like a little firecracker." Her mess of hair mirrored the inner turmoil that expelled throughout me.

My instinct was to run. To hide and wait for the horror to pass.

But I would not be a coward.

I would die the hero that mustered the pure hearted bravery of a Gryffindor.

I would cease to exist, hoping to linger in the memories of witches and wizards as witty as a Ravenclaw who basks in the delights of the written word, acknowledging the importance of wisdom.

I would sacrifice myself with the ambition that the world would carry on with the beating heart of a cunning warrior as a Slytherin should.

I would vanish with the wind that carries life onto the next with an undying loyalty to the light that shines upon us all, like a Hufflepuff.

I will not go softly into this hollow night.

"Let me enlighten you, Grier Langston. The mark that blesses your supple body exemplified the magnetic tie you have to me and my cause," his eyes glowed with the possibility of me on his side. "Your body is draining itself because it needs the Dark Mark to possess your skin. Or you will die."

Scoffing, I cried, "I would rather die than join you and your pathetic pack of mutts." I glared at each and every Death Eater who stood on the side of cold and brutal evil as I declared my next words. "You see a weakness in me for the virtuous melody that lingers in each cell of my body. I am a ferocious bundle of thorns and roses. I will prick you with the sharp edges that lurk beneath this supple skin." I took a step closer to the Dark Lord and pronounced each word, "I. Will. Destroy. You."

In that moment, it flashed before me. A life that yearned for more, and one that would be cut short.

I met those grey eyes.

Draco Malfoy. The boy who swayed in limbo between the brilliance of pure righteousness and the horrors of inescapable darkness.

So we chose each other, and light gleamed through the curtains of the gloomy world beyond.

"You will regret that my dear," whispered Voldemort as he crushed my shoulders together in whirling agony.

I never broke the connection with those eyes as I said down the bond, May we meet in the next life.

My body was caught in the nets of murkiness as we apparated away, Voldemort's crushing grasp never leaving me.

This was far worse than death.

End of Book 1