Distance // Draco Malfoy

Chapter 81

'Hi there.' I smile, awkwardly, pushing Draco from on top of me, and subtly trying to wipe my mouth and re-button my now partially opened shirt. My friends just stare. Draco clambers to his feet, followed by the eyes of Harry, Ron and Hermione. 'Leave.' Harry says coldly.

'Don't worry, Potter, I'm not going to rat you out.' Draco rolls his eyes.

'How can I trust a word you say?' Harry grinds his teeth, and I can see the agitation building upon his face.

'Harry please -'

'You stay the fuck out of this.' He pushes me away as I approach, and I step away cautiously, drawing away from the scene.

'You've spent the last however many years fucking her -' He points viciously at me, '- around, so make your fucking mind up.'

Draco is silent for a while, clearly working on the answer, 'You're just jealous, Potter, because I'm fucking her, and you aren't.'

I scoff, 'We are not fucking! We haven't done that in ages, years, in fact, and you know it!'

Hermione and Ron are looking nervously at each other. 'Alyssia, come on, baby, let's go.'

'I'm not going with you.' I shake my head and root myself to the spot.

'You were all for it a minute ago,' Draco mutters, close in my ear, 'you said you wanted to just run away.'

'You think I meant that?' I shout, standing back from him. 'We can't leave the whole world behind us, you know. I have things to start, and things to finish. I certainly won't give up on my friends, they've had my back more than you ever have!'

Hermione opens her arms and I fall into them. She holds me close to her, I know she will have missed me. Draco takes a few steps back.

'Okay, if that's how you feel. But all I've ever done was try to protect you.'

I know I have to choose, but it is an easy decision. I step forward and put my hands on his face.

'I'm sorry, Draco, but I'm fighting bigger battles than just this. I promise you, one day it will be over, and we will find each other once again, and we can make things work, but now just isn't the right time.'

He is silent for a while, 'At least one of us is fighting for the side they want to.' He mutters, so only I can hear, 'I love you.'

'I love you too.' He kisses my lips, and I feel him step away from me. When I open my eyes, he is gone.

'What the bloody hell just happened?'

'Honestly, I don't know. It was all so quick, I don't know. I don't want any distractions.'

Harry doesn't say anything. 'Harry, please, I am begging you. I didn't know he was coming, and I haven't told him anything, I don't even know what you've been doing the last few months. I was being stupid and careless, and I'm sorry. Please, let's move on.'

Still no answer. I hang my head and walk away from him. 'Okay.' I run up to him and hug him.

'Thank you.'

'Yeah, I missed you.'

'We all did.' Hermione replies, smiling.

We walk back to Bill and Fleur's briskly, discussing all that I have missed. They all broke into Gringotts and were successful in getting the Horcrux hidden in LeStrange's vault, a huge relief. We reach the cottage in little time, and I allow my friends to catch up with them, and I thank them eternally for all they have done for me and helped my recovery. I conjure a bunch of flowers in the kitchen, as Harry gives them a brief warning - 'Be careful, I'm worried someone will find you, so be careful - it will all be over soon.'

I grab my bag and prepare to apparate away from here, after one final embrace. 'So. where to?'

'Hogsmede. We need to be in to Hogwarts.' It's getting dark now. With that, we plummet into the abyss, sucked into that vortex, to return back to the danger and thrill of the desperate attempt to thwart Voldemort.

-*-

I hear an alarm and immediately am on alert. I look at my friends and we make an immediate dash for it, hearing shouts, and screams. We hide behind some tables, and simply wait. Rip. Table cloth after table cloth are pulled up in a sharp twist, and I find myself clenching Hermione's arms tighter and tighter. I can't go back. Then, another alarm, as the footsteps near. 'Potter!' There is a shout and the footsteps run away.

It's safe to move, so we run, as fast as we can, down many twisting and turning allyways, until we reach a dead end. 'In here, Potter.' We take no convincing. The sharp blue eyes stare into all of our faces as we flit past - I could have sworn they were Dumbledore's. But no - I know that isn't possible.

We enter a dark room lit with gas lamps on tables, as the man who invited us in leaves through another door. It's Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth. I never knew much about him. Whilst Harry and him exchange a few words, I examine his appearance, hardly taking in the heat of the conversation as I stuff bread into my mouth at such a pace it practically falls out of my mouth from lack of chewing. 

He was tall, with a long, dark grey beard, and sharp, striking blue eyes. He had a thin nose, and a weatherd brow, as though many years of thought had consumed him whole, as if he was still mulling over the same question he was twenty years ago. 'Thank you, Mr Dumbledore.' The sound of the name coming from Hermione's lips starts me back to reality. 

I notice the girl has gone from the picture. She is fading, getting smaller, then stopping at a point where she is no bigger than a pinprick. 'She's coming back.' Hermione breathes, almost hopefully, as though something amazing is about to happen.

'Who's that with her?' Ron squints his eyes, and we all look closer and closer to the oncoming figures. The picture frame opens, and the most incredible suprise greets us with a grin.