Pawns | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Collateral Damage

He was bellowing as he fell.

I clutched my own chair-leg tightly and tried to draw myself into the mountain, praying he'd miss me as he fell. My eyes were squeezed shut tightly and I held my breath, anticipating.

But I felt something of his hit me hard on the head as he plummeted, and I lost my grip on the chair.

I screamed at the top of my lungs as I free fell a few feet. My arms flailed and I opened my palm, trying to catch anything I could.

By fluke, I managed to grab onto a wooden rail, and I could do nothing else but dangle there; my foot couldn't find a place to mount and so I held on with only one arm's grip.

I let out painful gasps and I was loosing energy fast, feeling the sweat from the hot room. My eyes were wide open now, in fear. But the air was full of thick, rising smoke and I had to blink rapidly to remedy the sting it was causing.

Draco slid down a foot and reached for my free hand. He grabbed my wrist and held on tightly, trying to give me an opportunity to find my footing. He grit his teeth, a determined look on his face.

But even though I felt more secure in his grip, there was no where for me to rest my foot - I was still dangling. I could feel my clutched wrist stretching under the force of the gravity and heard popping sounds coming from the bones.

I let out a muffled scream at the sensation, and my vision blurred from the pain for a scary second.

I could barely hear anything over the sound of the roaring flames. "Please!" I thought I heard Draco say. "Try to take a step! Please Arabella!" He was straining now.

His jaw was clamped shut and I saw sweat drip down his face as he held my entire weight with only one hand, and kept himself up with his other.

I tried to control my breathing and somehow managed to find the smallest of crevices to put the tip of my shoe into.

With great effort I pushed myself a few inches higher and Draco helped me more, pulling me closer to him. With my other hand I reached for a stable chair and was able to get myself onto his level. His hand let go of my wrist and he put it around my waist, letting me lean on him.

I was panting and shaking. I was half-crying due to the smoke in my eyes and the thought of us falling down below like Crabbe had.

Draco put his lips to my ear and shushed me soothingly. But I could feel his own cheek slightly wet. "It's okay, Arabella, it's okay. We're together. It's ok," he hushed.

I was still shaking horribly. I tried to snuggle into him as best I could. But we were both getting tired now. It was so hard to stay holding on.

Goyle was still behind us and he was panting hard. And though I never liked Crabbe, I couldn't help but feel sorry that he was dead. And I still had no idea where Harry and the others were because they weren't with us on the mountain of objects. I chocked on a horrible sob, anticipating the worst.

"Draco," I said his name, worryingly.

"No, shh" he protested, lips still to my neck. "It's okay, sweetie. It's ok."

Tears rolled down my cheek and my arms and legs started to go numb from the effort of hanging on.

And as I appreciated my situation, I knew I needed to tell him - to say it again. These could be our last moments and I hadn't said the words to him ever since the day my dad had died.

I inhaled as deeply as I could, feeling the fumes sting, and breathed out the steadiest and surest breath I could manage. "I love you," I croaked sadly, staring into his teary blue eyes.