The Astronomy Tower < #wattys2016 >

Their last night

June 27th, Wednesday, 1996

Hermione has been so busy with school work, that she had close to no time to think about boyfriends or summer vacation. She has been allowing only one more thing to occupy her thoughts. Hermione researched Horcruxes in the library as often as she could.

She found that she was falling into one of her phases where she barely slept or ate.

Draco had gotten out of the hospital wing a week ago, and she had barely seen him, only their tower sessions, and both of them had been so lost in thought that they barely spoke

Hermione longed to go back to their times before life had gotten in the way.

She couldn't deny it, she had developed serious feelings for Draco over the year, and she wasn't looking forward to a long summers without him. Hermione had a horrible idea that their time apart would be a lot longer than 2 months. She found herself thinking that she should have savored him while she had him.

She snapped out of her stupor, and looked at  the clock. She was going to be late, it was almost 8:00.

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Draco read the letter again, shocked by its contents. He hadn't done it in time, and now they were resorting to a desperate measure.

Draco:

Be prepared, on Friday June 30th, we are invading the school. Take the target up to the astronomy tower and finish him off. Snape will be there to help you escape afterwards. Do not disappoint me, this is our last chance.

Lord Voldemort

Anger spread through Draco. Voldemort himself couldn't even kill Dumbledore. How could he expect a 16 year old, O.W.L wizard to do the job?

Draco heard the door to the Astronomy tower open, and he shoved the note into his pocket.

He turned around. Just as he had expected. It was Hermione.

For a long time, she just stared at him. Then, she flung herself into his arms.

Warmth spread through him. He was really going to muss her, when this was all over.

Choking panic overtook him. He was going to lose her, after everything that hey had been through. Lord Voldemort was going to take away, possibly, the best thing that had ever happened to him.

His eyes burned with unshed tears. He would not cry.

But then she wrapped her arms around him even tighter, and a single tear escaped him. lucking for him, she didn't see it.

She looked up at him, her ryes tilled with impossible sorrow. He knew that this may very well be the last time that he would see her in such an intimate way, and the thought threatened to suffocate him.

He leaned his face down to hers, and kissed her so softly, trying to express everything that he felt with a single gesture.

They embraced again, and Draco felt his heart split in two.

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That night when he finally managed to crawl back to his bed, and made sure that everyone else was asleep, he wept. He wept for Hermione, and what they could have had; he wept for his father, who he missed dearly; he wept for his tender mother; He wept for Dumbledore, and the cruel fate that he was to face; and he wept for Harry, and what he had to face in the future.

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That night Hermione went to bed as soon as she got back, but she found that she couldn't sleep, so she went down to the common room. There, she wept. She wept for Draco, and his struggle with his families value: She wept for Harry, who had been dammed at such a young age, by such a horrid man; she wept for her parents; she wept for Neville, and his parent. She wept and she could not control herself.

At some point in the night, she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders. She looked over to see Lavender Brown beside her, and the rest of the girls in her year, standing around them with kind smiles on their faces.

Merlin, did she ever love her Gryffindor family.

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I cried while I wrote this chapter. It made me cry due to the fact that I love these characters so much, and the world that J.K Rowling created and to imagine them sticking together in these tough situations made me incredibly emotional.

The Harry Potter characters were my friends while I was going through a rough time last summer, and they mean the world to me. They helped me through my Depression by making me laugh, cry, etc. Words cannot describe how much the book series meant to me.

Thank you for sticking through with my story. I am grateful, this story means a lot to me.

I don't have the end to part one entirely written up so I decided that I would give you a teaser.

TEASERS...

1."From the look on your face, I'm guessing that you know what going on tonight," She whispered.

Draco nodded at her. He affectionately patted her hand. Despite how annoying she could be, she knew how to comfort him.

2.Hermione stumbled backwards until she bumped into a desk.

"Hermione..." Draco started, reaching for her, but she dodged his touch and ran out the door to the classroom.