The Girl Who Lived (Draco Malfoy x OC)

The Cold

February 5th 1998

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured," the icy, shrill voice of Voldemort spoke.

There was a pause and Harper pulled herself from Draco's arms, attempting to gather herself back together. They were still knotted together in the headmasters office, Snape's memories swirling in the pensieve near them.

"I speak now, Harper Potter, directly to you," Voldemort's voice continued and horror flashed across Harper's features. "You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, the battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harper Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who tries to conceal you from me. One hour."

Despite the feeling of wire strangling her throat, she released a cumbrous breath. Draco furiously shook his head, hand tightening around her wrist.

"No, don't be an idiot, Potter," Draco's voice was as poisonous as her thoughts, she could already see the gloss of tears welling in the corners of his eyes. "Don't even consider it. I won't let you."

"More people will die, Draco," she sounded sad, she knew what had to be done, but she couldn't tell Draco. If she told him the truth - that she was a horcrux - he'd never let her go.

"He's not going to spare people if you go to him," he shook his head vigorously, bent on his words, "he wants to kill everyone anyway. People will die anyway. You're not fucking going."

She didn't say anything, she didn't want her last moments with Draco to be of them fighting.

"We only have the snake left, let's go kill that fucking thing and end this."

So she nodded, emptily and silent. The snake was the other horcrux remaining to bind Voldemort to the earth. If it didn't slither past her in the next hour, she trusted Draco, Ron or Hermione to finish the task that had been left. It struck her as to why Dumbledore wanted her to confide in her friends; so if she fulfilled her destiny too early, they could carry it on. She pulled at the scorned sleeve of the denim jacket, wiping away the incessant tears on her cheeks.

"Let's find the others, then," she said, rising to her feet.

She wanted to see them before she died.

Her hand didn't leave his as they descended the spiral staircase. Draco led the way and Harper allowed herself to be entranced by him knowing these were her final moments. He was beautiful, an amazing synthesis of magical perfection. And she had the honour of having been his girlfriend, his lover, his partner. As short and unconventional it had been for them, she wouldn't have had their time together any other way. She rose his hand to her lips, kissing it, cherishing it.

"I love you," she said.

He looked back at her, exquisite cinereal irises more silver than gold. "I love you too."

She managed to smile, her breath slow and deep. They continued on and the castle that'd been filled with so much chaos was now an empty shell. She felt ghostly striding through as if she'd already died. The portrait people were still missing from their frames, the whole place eerily still. They reached the ground floor to see many bodies, some in Death Eater robes, some in school uniforms strewn across the stone. It took all of her will to keep walking, to not crumble and blame herself.