Save Me

STARS

By the time that the meeting had concluded it was almost midnight. It wouldn't be long now until Voldemort advanced his attack. This was probably his last night alive, Malfoy acknowledged. He tried to relax but his head was spinning. He pushed Hermione out, needing a walk alone. It wasn't to hurt her really, but he knew it probably did. The thing was, Gryffindors always confronted a conflict head-on and wore their hearts out on their sleeves for everyone else to see. Malfoy had never been like that, he needed time to process things before he was ready to talk. Unfortunately, time wasn't on their side. He hoped the walk would help clear his thoughts, then he could go to Hermione.

The forest was calm and quiet. The night sky was clear and the air had a faint, damp smell to it. It seemed peaceful and a scene that would be rather enjoyed under different circumstances- if everything were as it should have been. Instead, Draco felt it was like a calm before a storm. It was teasing him, all of them. Draco fiddled with his wand and cast small sparks of light from the end, reflecting the constellations above. Wizarding constellations were different from those of Muggles of course. He knew that from his father. While the Muggles overindulged in some Orion constellation and its meanings, wizarding families told their young of a different story- The Great Witch. Draco recalled the story his mother told him once, hearing her voice as she said, "The Great Witch was the first woman of our kind. No one knows when or how, but she used magic to save her husband when he fell ill. But when the others around her learned of her magic, they tried to take it! She fled the village where she once lived and traveled as a nomad. But one night, she woke to an arrow through her husband's chest and a crowd fighting her with fire. She was in such agony and loss over her husband that she used the last magic she had to pull the arrow from his chest and cast herself into the sky to protect him. Now, she remains there and watches over him eternally. They say his soul still roams the Earth searching for its other half, but she remains stuck in the sky above."

Malfoy was snapped out of his thoughts when a branch cracked near him. He bolted up holding his wand in a defensive position, only to reveal Snape standing with his arms crossed. Draco sighed a breath of relief and sat back down on the cold stump he had found somewhere along the forest trail. Snape sauntered over and sat next to him.

For awhile, they said nothing. It was nice to have a company that understood how he was feeling. Draco tried to imagine what Snape's motivation was to keep at it, after all these years. Day after day, Snape told lie after lie. But it was a silly question he already knew the answer to: Lily. For him, it had always been Lily. As long as Potter was alive, Snape always had a piece of her to protect.

Malfoy sharply inhaled, "How did you know that you loved her? Lily."

Snape looked towards the sky, and after a long breath said "She saw in me what no one else did. She believed in me, comforted me, and understood who I am at my core. Even with my flaws, she loved me unconditionally. Of course, not in the way she loved James. But to me, there's nothing like it. Finding the one person who sees you for who you are."

Malfoy nodded, and suddenly his throat was dry. Time. Time was all that he needed and all that he didn't have. A single tear fell from his eye when he thought that by then tomorrow he would never see Hermione again. Her eyes, her smile, and her laugh would all be fragments of her that he would give anything to see again. It was almost enough to make him want to avoid looking at her, because he couldn't stand the thought of not knowing when it would be for the last time.

"You love her," Snape said.

"Yes. It feels like I'm losing her before I actually am. And I'm worried. For her, I mean. You know, after," Malfoy responded. "Make sure that she's alright."