My Father's Only Rule || DRACO MALFOY X SNAPE'S DAUGHTER

Chapter Forty: It All Ends Here

May 2nd, 1998, 7:00 am - Hogwarts

The sun was working its way out, it was a light blue outside, and from a distance we saw Voldemort return with his gang of death eaters. Hermione and I had been talking for a while, but Voldemort's return got her attention.

"Oh," she said urgently upon spotting him. "Is that-"

"Hermione," Ron said, interrupting us. "Come on."

"I'd better go," Hermione said.

"It's alright," I said. "I'd better find Draco." Hermione and I hugged one last time.
"Find me," she insisted. "When it's over."

"I will," I promised.

As everyone made their way out to the courtyard, I turned around to find Draco, only to see he was already coming down the stairs.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"It's him," I said angrily.

"I'm gonna do it, Draco. I swear. I don't think I can look at him without killing him." Draco took my hand firmly.

"You'll do nothing of the sort," he said. "Come on."

We made our way to the courtyard to see Voldemort's entourage returning. We were careful to stay near the back.

"Harry Potter...IS DEAD!" Voldemort screamed.

"No!" Ginny instantly lunged at him, held back by her father.

"Silence!" Voldemort hissed. "Stupid girl."

Dead? No, that can't be right. 

But it seemed as though it were true. Hagrid was being forced to carry Harry's body. It shook me to see it. Harry was supposed to kill Voldemort. It was in the prophecy. And I never got to say goodbye to him. It didn't matter that we were broken up or that we'd had our share of disagreements. Harry was one of my dearest friends, and always would be. I had been through too much in the last few hours. My father, Jane, now Harry?

"Harry Potter is dead," Voldemort repeated. "From this day forward you put your faith in me." A look of disbelief plagued all of us. Voldemort looked back at his death eaters.
"Harry Potter is dead!" He proclaimed again, to which his followers laughed. "And now is the time to declare yourself," he said, turning to us. In that moment, I fantasized about all the different ways I could kill him. I thought about seeing him being struck by Nagini as my father was. Or Hagrid carrying his body, like Harry. Or walking down the staircase to see his lifeless body, just like Jane. It had completely slipped my mind that Draco and I were still his chosen golden children, especially me.

"Come forward and join us...or die."

Nobody moved.

"Draco," I heard a whisper shout. It was Lucius. He had spotted us. "Grace!" His hands were stretched out, but Draco and I weren't moving- especially me. After insisting that I was so suitable to be Voldemort's chosen one because I had no problem lying to him, suddenly I couldn't do it anymore. I insisted Draco couldn't, and I could because I was strong and Draco wasn't. But I wasn't moving. I looked at the man responsible for the most tragic thing to ever happen to me- and I couldn't do it. I could see Voldemort's face as gears started turning in his head, and he wondered how I, openly fiercely loyal to him, wouldn't join him.

"Draco," Narcissa said calmly. This changed Draco's disposition. But not mine. "Grace. Come." I wasn't moving. And I was putting everyone at risk. Then Draco did something that surprised me. I wasn't strong enough to finish my assignment. I wasn't strong enough to keep up the facade until the end. I couldn't. So Draco did it for me. He grabbed my hand, gentle but firm, and walked with me across the courtyard. Voldemort greeted us with open arms pulling us both in for a hug, and neither one of us knew what to do, so we didn't return the hug. I couldn't stand to think of the look of betrayal on everyone's faces. If they only knew all I've done to help them.

"Well done, Grace," Voldemort said. "Well done, Draco." While his arms were around me, in a split second, I thought about popping them off and watching him bleed out. But before I knew it, Draco had taken my hand again and we were safe behind my future in laws.

Suddenly, and to everyone's astonishment, Neville Longbottom stepped forward with a limp.

"Well, I must say, I'd hoped for better," Voldemort remarked, and all the death eaters laughed. "And who might you be, young man?"

"Neville Longbottom," he stuttered. More laughs.

"Well, Neville, I'm sure we can find a place for you in our ranks-"

"I'd like to say something," Neville said strongly.

"Well, Neville, I'm sure we'd all be fascinated to hear what you have to say."

We all waited. Neville didn't speak up. Neville didn't get involved. But Neville had been someone Harry would have been proud of this year. This was a Neville I hadn't seen before.

"It doesn't matter that Harry's gone," Neville said.

"Stand down, Neville," Seamus warned.

"People die every day," Neville said. "Friends." Jane. "Family." Dad. "Yeah. We lost Harry tonight, but he's still with us. In here. We lost Fred. Remus. Tonks. All of them. But they didn't die in vain." Neville redirected his speech towards Voldemort, who was about to begin laughing hysterically. "But you will. Cause you're wrong!" Voldemort was laughing now. "Harry's heart did beat for us. For all of us. And it's not over!" Neville pulled the sword of Gryffindor out of his bag in a twist of events, but just then, everyone's body stood still as Harry rolled out of Hagrid's arms, got up promptly and casted confringo at Nagini. Harry was alive. My whole body softened out of relief. As Harry ran back into the castle, luring Voldemort's fight, we all saw the look of fear on his face- and who could blame him. Choosing not to fight this already won battle, the death eaters started retreating, leaving Voldemort alone and unsupported.

I was ready to jump in. Those were my friends and they needed my help. Harry was alive and he was going to win this. But before I could go anywhere, Narcissa had a tight grip on both my wrist and Draco's. No matter how hard I tried, she wasn't letting go of us as she dragged us away, Lucius followed us in a cowardly manner. All while Narcissa was dragging us back to the carriage, I looked back on the castle, and the battle I was supposed to be fighting .