This Bitter Earth

FIFTEEN

A/N: Thank you to every single person who has come back to this story. I know I've been gone a while but I appreciate you all so much for sticking with this story and it's crazy/random update schedule that doesn't really exist. I hope this long chapter makes up for the wait. You don't know how much you mean to me and all your well wishes made me feel so special. Thank you so much for all of your lovely, wonderful comments! It makes me so happy to hear from you.

I love you all, dear readers.

Thank you so much my darling Bree for betaing. Also for listening to me whine for months about this chapter and for yelling at me to stop rewriting it when I was spiraling.

Soundtrack- "Sick of Losing Soulmates" by dodie and "Dancing After Death" by Matt Maeson

FIFTEEN

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Daylight blinded Draco. The earth rushed up underneath him and his chest felt like it was collapsing under its own weight. Even small breaths hurt; everything hurt. Especially the bright, white light searing through his eyelids and straight into his brain, stabbing the soft grey mess inside his skull. At least, he hoped it was still inside his skull. He wasn't sure what was left inside him anymore.

The only thing he could feel was pain. At least that was proof his heart was still beating; only living hurt this much.

And Granger had made him do it.

Bitch.

He gripped her hand tighter and felt her squeeze back.

Granger.

Draco slowly turned his head and was met with a pair of eyes. The color hadn't returned to his vision yet and everything was still blurry, like he was looking at the world through a sheet of rain. But he could see deep grey, ever so slowly turning to... brown. Brown like rich, melted chocolate. Brown like swirls of cinnamon, thick and warm. Brown and big like a doe's eyes. His girl's eyes.

No, he couldn't die yet. Not with her...

"Grang...er..."

She... smiled. And sunlight illuminated the rest of the colors in his limited field of vision. There was a strange ringing in his ears and it grew louder, stronger, turning into shouting and screams.

Then Granger's hand was ripped from his and her eyes went wide.

"—get these off her!"

Draco felt his blood thicken with fury as Weasley pulled her away from him, practically sitting on her and trying everything he could to get the chains off of Granger's wrists. She had his wand clasped tight and Draco's blood surged at the sight of it. He wanted to snatch it and take Weasley's fingers off one at a time.

Fletcher had cried for mercy when Draco took his off.

Maybe the whole hand at once then.

But... Yaxley had screamed until his lungs gave out as his hand crumpled.

He'd figure something out when his head didn't feel like it was going to explode with each pump of blood into it. And... out of it.

Just like Theo's as Draco's curse had kept his heart convulsing, beating blood out of his mouth long after he stopped breathing.

...Shit.

"Ron, Ron stop!" Granger shouted, pushing him back. One of the little straps of her lace dress fell over her shoulder.

Draco snarled and tried to sit up, but the world turned upside down in a wave of nausea. The ringing jumped from ear to ear and when he reached out to her. He couldn't feel the ground under him. Disoriented, he fell back down against the hard earth.