YOU AND DRACO LEAD THE REST OF the death eaters through the castle, all of you gripping your wands. You turn the corner and catch a glimpse of the door leading to the bottom of the astronomy tower, just as Granger and Longbottom round the other corner. You all freeze, raising your wands at one another.
"Bec?" Granger glances to Neville then back to you. "Bec, what are you doing with them?" She shakes her head in disbelief, narrowing her eyes at you.
You clench your jaw and stand your ground. don't respond, keeping your wand raised at her face, ready to throw a hex should you have to. Granger may have been more studious than you, but she had never been able to beat you in a duel. You were always much faster than her, able to block any spell she threw your way.
"Shut your fucking mouth, mudblood." Greyback shouts at her, making her take a step back at the sight of him.
"Don't you speak to her like that!" Longbottom shouts. Fucking stupid Gryffindor, always trying to be the hero. Why couldn't they just fucking turn around and walk away?
Bellatrix begins to cackle, suddenly stopping f and raising her wand, firing hex after hex at the two of them. They begin shielding and throwing hexes back in her direction, as you and Draco shield yourselves. Suddenly a hand grabs the back of your blazer, throwing you towards the stairs.
"Get your fucking hands off her, Yaxley!" You hear Draco shout. He rushes over and pushes Yaxley off of you, placing himself between the two of you.
"She has a fucking job to do." Yaxley raises his wand to Draco as you and Draco both point yours back at him.
"Yaxley, let them go! Both of them!" Bellatrix shouts. He glares at the both of you for a moment before turning and helping the others. It looked like some of the other members of the DA had arrived now. "GO!" Bellatrix shouts again, not taking her eyes from the DA members standing before her, continuing to cast wordless spells.
Draco turns to you, grabbing your hand as you open the door to the stairs of the astronomy tower. You can hear voices from up above. "I thought he was going to be alone?" You whisper to Draco. He doesn't acknowledge you as he begins running to the top of the tower, pulling you along with him.
Draco reaches the top of the stairs, dropping your hand as he raises his wand. You follow suit, standing just behind him, your wand pointing past his shoulder.
"Good evening Draco, Rebecca." Dumbledore nods to both of you. "What brings you here on this fine spring evening?"
"Who else is here?" You ask, ignoring his greeting. "We heard you talking."
He looks at you with a gentleness in his eyes. "I often talk aloud to myself. I find it extraordinarily useful." He looks to Draco now, almost pleadingly. "Draco, you are no assassin."
"How do you know what I am? I've done things that would shock you!" Draco retorts.
"Like cursing Katie Bell and hoping that, in return, she would bear a cursed necklace to me? Like replacing a bottle of mead with one laced with poison? Forgive me, Draco, but I cannot help feeling these actions are so weak that your heart couldn't really be in them." You couldn't help but admire how wise Dumbledore was. He had always been very kind to you, you didn't want to do this. But you had no choice.
"He trusts me! I was chosen!" Draco lowers his wand, almost as if in sync you raise yours higher, with more force. Draco pulls the sleeve of his blazer up, revealing the dark mark.
"I shall make it easy for you." Dumbledore raises his wand and points it at Draco.
"Expelliarmus!" You wave your wand instantly, disarming Dumbledore.
"Very good, Rebecca. Very good." You turn your head away as you hear the doors to the bottom of the astronomy tower steps open. "You're not alone? There are others? How?" You snap your head back to Dumbledore again.
"The vanishing cabinet in the room of the requirement." You answer.
"We've been mending it." Draco finishes your sentence, as if he could read your mind. He doesn't break his gaze from Dumbledore
"Let me guess, it has a sister? A twin?" Dumbledore really did look impressed. Not at all like he was about to die.
"At Borgin & Burke's. They form a passage." Draco slowly raises his wand again.
"Ingenious. Draco, years ago I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices. Please, let me help you."
Draco's face crumples as tears begin to form in his eyes. "Don't you understand? I have to do this! I have to kill you!" He looks to you now, reaching out for you with his free hand. "Or he's going to kill us..."
"Well done, you two." Bellatrix was behind you now.
She and Dumbledore have it out between them, with Greyback making a snide comment about your father and Lucius and how he should be the one to kill Dumbledore. You both look at him with a grimace.
"No! The Dark Lord was clear; The boy's to do it. This is your moment." She comes around to whisper in Draco's ear. "Do it! Go on, Draco! NOW!" Bellatrix is hovering over Draco's other shoulder, you slowly reach down and gently place your fingers on his palm, he responds and grasps your hand tight. You let out a shaky breath of relief.
Dumbledore looks at the two of you, down to your clenched hands and then back to you again. He gives a small, understanding smile. Almost like a smile of forgiveness. You inhale sharply, tears springing to your eyes.
"It's okay, Draco. I can do it." You whisper to him, stepping forward. Draco turns to you, his eyes confused.
"No." Suddenly, Severus appears behind you, stretching out his arm and pushing you back, standing in front of you and Draco and pointing his wand at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore weakly pleads with Snape, almost as if it was a waste of what precious time he had left.
"Avada Kedavra!" A green light shoots out of Snape's wand and hits Dumbledore's chest, sending him flying backwards off the top of the astronomy tower.
A strangled cry escapes your throat as you cover your mouth and look to Draco. He looked just as horrified as you felt. Snape pushes the two of you towards the astronomy tower stairs, as all of the death eaters make their way through the castle. Bellatrix has gone mad with ecstasy, running across tables in the great hall, smashing cups and plates onto the floor with her feet. She turns, looking towards where Dumbledore would usually stand. She raises her wand and smashes all the windows. You and Draco stand together, watching her destruct somewhere you once called home. You both follow Snape towards Hagrid's hut, presumably so you could disapparate. Draco has his arm around your waist, guiding you.
"Snape! He trusted you!" You can hear Potter shouting as he is running towards you all, making you and Draco stop in your tracks to look at him. Bellatrix is still ecstatic, laughing and dancing. She uses a wordless spell to set Hagrid's Hut on fire.
"Draco, what the fuck have we done?" You whisper to him.
"Go on!" Snape shouts at the two of you as Draco drags you away from Potter. He takes you around the back of the hut, you grab on tight to his arm as he twists and turns, pulling you with him until you see the image of the Malfoy Manor in front of you. You land not far from where you had with Snape, but everything had changed since then. It all felt different.
Draco pulls you into an embrace, holding the back of your head and running his fingers through your hair. "Are you okay?"
"No. No, I'm not okay. I can't believe we just did that." You whisper to him, as if scared someone was listening to the both of you.
"Listen to me," he pulls away from you, holding each side of your face with his hands, "we didn't have a choice, okay? And we didn't even really do anything."
"Draco!" You reprimand him. "We let them into Hogwarts. They are murderers! We let them fight with students!"
"They fought with Granger, Bec."
"Yes, Draco. She is still a student and a human being no matter how much we dislike her. What about Blaise and Lux? What if they got harmed in all of this? We have just watched our head of house kill our headmaster. How did everything get so fucked?" You were spiralling now, words falling out of your mouth and you couldn't control them. You could feel your heart rate increase as the panic began to rise in your throat.
"Pull yourself together, Bec!" He raises his voice at you. Looking around to check no one else was there. "Just- just wait until we can get into my room. Okay?"
You bite your bottom lip and nod your head, knowing he was right. You couldn't allow any of the other death eaters to see you like this. They would think you were weak, that you were a traitor. You take a deep breath, feeling the fresh air circle in your lungs, closing your eyes as you slowly let the breath leave your mouth.
"Come on." He grabs your face and kisses you, then takes your hand and leads you towards the house. As you reach the top of the stairs, the front door opens, revealing Narcissa standing just inside.
"Draco," she looks as though she wants to wrap her arms around him, to hold him and never let go. But something stops her. "Bec, my dear. I'm glad you're together."
"Mum, we need to get up to my room."
"Okay, darling, but..." she looked back into the house, as if checking no one was there.
"Are you alright, Mrs Malfoy?"
"What is it, Mum?"
"You shouldn't have come here. It's your father. He's home." She looks into Draco's eyes, they were glistening with tears in the moonlight. She looked so scared.
"What? How?"
Narcissa speaks over the top of him, looking to you, not hearing what Draco had asked. "And yours is here also, Bec." Your heart jumps into your mouth. You felt sick. "I can try to give you 10 minutes but then you must come down to see them." She moves backwards into the house, holding the door open for you both to enter. You both hurry up the grand staircase situated in the centre of the entrance hall, turning left and heading into one of the rooms behind a large, wooden black door. Identical to the one you had entered when you were last here.
Draco opens the door and ushers you inside, quietly shutting the door behind you. This was the first time you had seen Draco's bedroom, you wished it was under better circumstances. There was a king size bed laying under a large bay window, dressed in black silk bedsheets with matching black curtains. There was another door in the room, which let to the bathroom. You could see black tiles around the room, and a pristine white shower.
You turn to face Draco after admiring his room. He closes his eyes and rests his head against the door. He looked perfect, his suit was still perfectly pressed, not a hair out of place. You admired him from afar, his pale white skin reflecting the moonlight, he somehow looked so calm and peaceful. You know the outside looked nothing like the turmoil that was going on in his head, he was always very good at hiding how he truly felt from others.
"Draco?" His eyes open when you call his name, their icy grey colour falling onto you. He pushes off from the door and walks towards you, pulling you into a bone crushing hug. "How are they here?" You ask him.
"He must have helped them escape." He cradles the back of your head. "Bec, we didn't complete the task. Snape did it. I'm not sure what this means."
"I know. I'm scared, Draco."
"Me too, love. I'll take the fall, I won't let him hurt you."
You couldn't bring yourself to say anything back, you knew you would never be able to convince him not to protect you. You both stand there in silence, silently comforting one another, locked in an embrace. There's a quiet knock on the door.
"Draco? Your father has requested your presence." You hear Narcissa quietly say from the other side of the door.
Draco pulls away from you, looking you in the eyes and cupping your cheek. His cold rings dig into your face. "You ready for this?"
"No." You shake your head. "But I'm pleased I've got you here with me." You place a gentle kiss on his lips.
"I'll always be here. Come on, time to face the music." He smiles at you, making your insides melt. You admired him for trying to keep you calm, while you knew he was terrified of what you were both walking into. He takes you by the hand and begins to lead you downstairs.
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