It can never be the same

Chapter 20

Warning: violence, death

This was it. They were nearing the end of the road; the finish line was in sight; his fingers were grazing the golden snitch. After Draco had been allowed to leave the hospital wing, they had done some tweaks and successfully transported a small, black bird through the Vanishing Cabinet. Then, they had reported to Dumbledore that the Vanishing Cabinet was ready for use, and Draco had sent letters out to his Aunt and his mother respectively.

He could only hope that his mother had received his message loud and clear and that she had their belongings packed so that they could make a quick escape.

Times had been arranged by Dumbledore. He had decided the time that Draco should tell the death eaters to come through, he had told Draco to tell his mother a certain time frame after the death eaters left to be ready and waiting for him, and he had assured that he had contacted the Order to let them know what time to arrive.

So, there he and Y/n stood in front of the Vanishing Cabinet, awaiting the Order members that would meet up with them in the Room of Requirement. Their eyes were fixed on the object in front of them; neither of them had bothered to break the tense silence since entering the room.

Lying in wait was a special kind of purgatory.

Y/n checked the time on her watch, drawing his attention to the new accessory. It was a rather handsome watch but it was odd to see since she never wore watches - that was his thing.

"They should be here by now," she said.

Draco nodded absent-mindedly, his attention fixated on the watch for some reason.

"That's a new watch."

She looked at him before she looked down at the watch, twisting her wrist from side to side before she put her arm back down at her side.

"It's a gift," she muttered, her gaze going back to the Vanishing Cabinet.

"Oh," he said, his own gaze finding the Vanishing Cabinet once more.

They fell back into silence. His mind was racing with the possibilities of what might happen tonight. What if his mother didn't know about the plan? What if the Order wasn't able to capture the death eaters and they escaped before he could get his mother out of the Manor? What if -

He turned toward the girl beside him. What if he never saw Y/n again? And not because he escaped to the safe house and might never find her again, but because of other reasons. Tonight was full of too many dangers; too many what-ifs.

She turned to him, making eye contact with him and offering him a shaky smile.

"So this is it, yeah? This is where our journey together ends," she said.

His eyes flickered to the Vanishing Cabinet for a moment before he looked back at her. She was beautiful; his sunshine, the love of his life, the girl that had breathed colour into his dull existence. He drank in the sight of her, his eyes taking in everything about her, trying to commit this moment to his memory.

The slope of her nose, the shape of her lips, her long lashes, and her bright, kind eyes. Her eyes; the very eyes that had looked at him in anger and annoyance and indifference. The same eyes that had also looked at him in reassurance and joy and care.