Hiraeth // draco malfoy

FORTY SIX

another recount of battle

Pansy stood at the entrance to the Hogwarts castle. Blaise was somewhere in the distance, protecting Luna from one of the death eaters. They were now exposing themselves to their true intentions in front of Voldemort and his loyal followers, and they didn't care anymore. If they had to die for a greater cause, they would gladly do so because they would rather that, then spend another moment serving for a mad man. Her heart was racing as she lifted her wand in the direction of another death eater, and cast a curse at him, causing him to abruptly drop dead. In her mind, the more dead, the better their chances. She held no remorse or care anymore. "Pans!" A voice huffed as she turned to Theo rushing beside her.

"Jesus, Theo, where have you been?" She asked him, slight anger in her voice.

"Inside. Had some business to attend to." He smirked and she cocked her head to the left, slightly confused before piecing it together.

"Your father—?" She began to ask and he nodded, proudly. He felt no pain in taking care of his father, as his father had always been cold and abusive toward him. This was something they all knew needed to be done. And so, it was warranted. "Avada Kedavra!" She shouted over him, hitting another death eater from just a few steps away. "Where's Draco?"

"Where do you think?" He cocked his head to the side, knowingly. He too, had business. Only this time with Rodolphus. And that could take a while being what he did to his mother. A loud scream rang out from up ahead near the bridge and their attention diverted to Hermione, dropped on the ground in hysterics. As they hurried closer, they noticed the red hair on the head she held in her hands. Two death eaters were closing in on the poor girl, and Pansy couldn't let them take her too. Pansy lunged forward, with Theo just behind and the two of them threw more curses at them. It was a two-on-two fight and equally fair. Hermione was given this chance to grieve the Weasley boy, while two prior death eaters protected her entirely.

"Imperio!" Theo shouted at one, who now aimed his wand at the other. Theo watched as the cursed man hit his ally with the killing curse and then Theo directed his wand at him once more. "Avada Kedavra." He spoke loudly, watching the figure fall over to his demise. Pansy hurried to Hermione, beginning to pull her off of Ron.

"Granger, we need to keep fighting." Pansy demanded, but Hermione refused to listen, as she continued to sob onto the boys body. "Granger!" Pansy shouted, looking up and seeing more death eaters approaching. Luckily she knew they had a little bit of time because their reinforcements were holding them off for now. Pansy looked at the girl, and in a second, pried her off the body and smacked her gently across the face as a wake up call. Hermione's gaze wandered to Pansy's. Her eyes were red and tears were covering her pale cheeks. "We need to keep fighting. It's not over yet." Pansy said slowly, trying not to be too harsh on the girl, but knowing they had little time to do this. Hermione collected herself to the best of her ability, and Pansy pulled her to her feet.

"We gotta go!" Theo shouted at them, grabbing both their arms and running from the oncoming barrage of death eaters. They ran through the crumbled mess of carnage and blood, and made it over to Blaise and Luna, who met them halfway.

"Any sign of Dru?" Blaise asked Pansy, who shook her head, feeling concerned. "Fred?" She shook her head, once again. Luna had now made her way to Hermione, pulling the tired girl into her arms in comfort.

"They'll be here." Theo said. "She's capable of protecting herself."

"Heads up." Blaise interrupted and they all turned to see several death eaters approaching. Lifting their wands, while guarding Hermione and Luna, they began firing spells rapidly. Dodging them was harder than casting them, and at this point, they were becoming outnumbered. Everything was happening so fast. Many of the PA were already dead, or fighting elsewhere and they were running low on much hope being left for their sake. Theo, laughing manically as he hit the men before them with his own spells, looked to Pansy briefly.

"Maybe after all this, we could hit up a pub for some well deserved drinks." He joked and she couldn't help but smile slightly.

"On the verge of dying and you're only thinking of getting drunk?" She mocked him, casting another spell at the hoard of bad guys.

"That's not the only thing. Wouldn't mind taking someone home tonight." He shouted back, aiming his wand to the side of them. "Look out!" He gave them all a heads up as they ducked down from the oncoming fire. "Sectum sempra!" He shouted at the caster. "You know, I never remembered their aiming being this skilled." He muttered to Pansy trying to make light of this dark scenario.

"You're not really going to give them that much credit are you?" Pansy smirked, before a slight yelp escaped his mouth and she turned in horror, to Theo collapsing over onto her shoulder. "Nott?" She asked, not convinced this was happening. "Theo?" She said louder as Blaise couldn't give any time to grieve, still casting away. "Theo?" Her voice cracked, as she dropped to the ground with him. He blinked slowly, as she held his hand tightly within hers.

"I guess I spoke too soon." He mustered out, coughing up blood.

"Don't say that, Theo. We've got men to kill, and people to shag." She said through tearful eyes. He laughed slightly, before coughing up more blood and lifting his hand slowly to his mouth. Behind them, Hermione and Luna had joined in on the fighting, and Ginny had somehow made her way to them as well. Theo looked at his blood stained palm and sighed, angrily.

"Goddammit." He let out. "I'm sorry, Pans." He managed to say, as she shook her head.

"No, don't be sorry, Theo. You were amazing." She assured him, squeezing his hand slightly tighter. "Don't ever be sorry." He stayed quiet, looking up at the dark sky, slowly blinking. "Please, Theo, talk to me." She begged, not wanting sorry to be his last words. His eyes shifted to hers once again, and the smile returned on his lips.

"Would you look at that?" He asked, taking a long breath in as she waited for him to continue. "You're crying over me." He smirked and she let out a laugh while tears fell over him. "Don't cry over me, Pansy. I've lived enough for several lifetimes. You need to keep going. Win this war and shag as many people as you can. For me." He laughed once again, coughing more.

"Christ, Theo." She muttered to him. "You always know how to ruin a sentimental moment."

"That's what I'm here for. Comedic relief, if you will." His eyes returned to the sky, as she watched him carefully. "I think I'm gonna let it take over now." He breathed quietly, exhaling once more, before his eyes began to narrow and the life within him, left entirely. Pansy sobbed quietly, setting his head on the grass beside her foot and brushing his eyelids closed.

"Fuck, Theo." She muttered, covering her face with her hands before urging herself to stand up and face the oncoming fight.